Jack (05-02-2019)
yes it does
I believe in science
its backed up by observable facts
the fact is this is why humans have managed to stay alive and prosper on this planet
the fact that most humans are mostly good
which allows ever growing masses if us to live cooperatively in relative peace
treating each other as beings that matter
Compassion, love and decency
there is always the ones who are like saints
and the ones who are complete rat bag bastards
about 4% of people are sociopaths
1 percent women
and 3% are men
If nature had not found its way to make us mostly good we would have died out long ago.
LOVE baby
without it mankind will cease to exist
Love is utterly tied to mans intelligence
without love and compassion mankind would not have developed a high intelligence
YOU OWE YOUR EXISTANCE TO LOVE
even you sociopaths
you are just to cold and broken to realize that
Jack (05-02-2019)
Mindfullness
a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.
What are the benefits of mindfulness?
https://www.helpguide.org/harvard/be...ndfulness.htm/
lets see just how good your programmer is annatta
anatta: "Still you are aware of other possibilities and keep an open mind."
Jack: Yes, ENDLESS ... being the Key Word. (so 'speculating' is a waste of time)
anatta: "For example you might want to live a "moral life" - and then the awareness comes into a practice
Jack: 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you' ... is a pretty old concept and accepted by most.
Bhaktajan: "Is this an ORIGINAL idea?"
Jack: You'd have to ask Epicurus.
"For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by ataraxia—peace and freedom from fear— and aponia—the absence of pain— and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that the root of all human neurosis is death denial, and the tendency for human beings to assume that death will be horrific and painful, which he claimed causes unnecessary anxiety, selfish self-protective behaviors, and hypocrisy. According to Epicurus, death is the end of both the body and the soul and therefore should not be feared. Likewise, Epicurus taught that the gods, though they do exist, have no involvement in human affairs and do not punish or reward people for their actions. Nonetheless, he maintained that people should still behave ethically because amoral behavior will burden them with guilt and prevent them from attaining ataraxia."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurus
Jack (05-03-2019)
Is the non-Buddhists thinking that this talk of Buddhism is about living monastically?
Here is the secular pop-references ...and they're oldies:
Zen in the Art of Archery (Zen in der Kunst des Bogenschießens) is a book by German philosophy professor Eugen Herrigel, published in 1948, about his experiences studying Kyūdō, a form of Japanese archery, when he lived in Japan in the 1920s. It is credited with introducing Zen to Western audiences in the late 1940s and 1950s.
he book sets forth theories about motor learning. Herrigel has an accepting spirit towards and about unconscious control of outer activity that Westerners heretofore considered to be wholly under conscious-waking control and direction. For example, a central idea in the book is how through years of practice, a physical activity becomes effortless both mentally and physically, as if our physical memory (today known as "muscle memory") executes complex and difficult movements without conscious control from the mind.
Herrigel describes Zen in archery as follows:
"(...) The archer ceases to be conscious of himself as the one who is engaged in hitting the bull's-eye which confronts him. This state of unconscious is realized only when, completely empty and rid of the self, he becomes one with the perfecting of his technical skill, though there is in it something of a quite different order which cannot be attained by any progressive study of the art (...)"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_in_the_Art_of_Archery
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:
An Inquiry into Values (ZAMM), by Robert M. Pirsig,
is a book that was first published in 1974.
It is a work of fictionalized autobiography, and is the first of
Pirsig's texts in which he explores his Metaphysics of Quality.
The title is an apparent play on the title of the 1948 book
Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel.
In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Pirsig explores the meaning and concept of "quality"; a
term he conceives as undefinable. Quality is a phenomenon that exists between the subject and the object.
The perception of a painting, for example, requires both an observer and an object.
His thesis is that to truly experience quality one must both embrace and apply it as best fits the
requirements of the situation. According to Pirsig, such an approach would avoid a great
deal of frustration and dissatisfaction common to modern life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_an...le_Maintenance
Zen in the Art of Writing (1973) by Ray Bradbury
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_in_the_Art_of_Writing
what it means to write and be a writer from the author of, most famously, Fahrenheit 451.
It collects a number of Bradbury’s essays and poems written over a period of
30 years and touches on why he became a writer, where he finds his ideas,
the process of writing some of his books and, more generally, the joys of writing.
And that's what's so refreshing – his playful and boisterous approach.
He writes about the pleasures of writing, rather than treating it like a hard slog, and he never takes himself too seriously:
Hot today, cool tomorrow. This afternoon, burn down the house. Tomorrow,
pour cold critical water on the simmering coals. Time enough to think and cut and
rewrite tomorrow. But today – explode – fly apart – disintegrate! The other six or
seven drafts are going to be pure torture. So why not enjoy the first draft, in the hope that your joy will seek and find others in the world who, reading your story, will catch fire, too?
But that’s not to say he doesn't have some wise words. Quite the opposite.
he above quotation shows you don't have to be entirely serious to offer good writing advice.
Here's a selection of his best bits.
Bradbury's wisdom
‘if you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer […]
For the first thing a writer should be is – excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms.’
‘in order to convince your reader that he is there, you must assault each of his senses’
‘From an ever-roaming curiosity in all the arts, from bad radio to good theatre, from nursery rhyme to symphony, from jungle compound to Kafka’s Castle, there is basic excellence to be winnowed out, truths found, kept, savoured, and used on some later day.’
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‘By living well, by observing as you live, by reading well and observing as you read, you have fed Your Most Original Self.
By training yourself in writing, by repetitious exercise, imitation, good example, you have made a clean, well-lighted place to keep the Muse […] through training, you have relaxed yourself enough not to stare discourteously when inspiration comes into the room.’
‘I came on the old and best ways of writing through ignorance and experiment […] I blundered into creativity’
‘I’ve tried to teach my writing friends that there are two arts: number one, getting a thing done;
and then, the second great art is learning how to cut it so you don't kill it or hurt it in any way.
When you start out life as a writer, you hate that job, but now that I’m older it’s turned into a wonderful game,
and I love the challenge just as much as writing the original, because it’s a challenge. It’s an intellectual challenge to get a scalpel and cut the patient without killing.’
‘As soon as things get difficult, I walk away. That’s the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.’
‘Quantity gives experience. From experience alone can quality come.’
‘His [the writer’s] greatest art will often be what he does not say, what he leaves out, his ability to state simply with clear emotion, the way he wants to go.’
‘Work, giving us experience, results in new confidence and eventually relaxation […] Suddenly, a natural rhythm is achieved. The body thinks for itself.’
‘if one works, one finally relaxes and stops thinking. True creation occurs then and only then.’
Zen in the Art of Archery
The last couple of quotations betray the main inspiration of the book: German professor Eugen Herrigel's Zen in the Art of Archery, which was responsible for bringing Zen to Europe after World War II.
The chief lesson in both books is that if you practise something enough it becomes effortless and unconscious; you enter a flow state.
You need to go to Zen for the answer to your problems. Zen, like all philosophies, followed but in the tracks of men who learned from instinct what was good for them. Every wood-turner, every sculptor worth his marble, and ballerina, practices what Zen preaches without having heard the word in all their lives.
The verdict
If you like Ray Bradbury's writing and you're looking to be inspired, this makes for an excellent read. He writes with an infectious energy that you can't help but catch, which is a welcome change from the grave tone of many 'how to' writing books.
https://www.articulatemarketing.com/...writing-review
"There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone," McConnell wrote. "His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended."
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